Responsible research publication: international standards for authors.

The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation. Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others. Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized, and has not been published elsewhere. Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work. The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals' contributions to the work and its reporting. Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed.